Pondering Preaching that Shares God's Heart

Mishandling Old Testament Quotes in Preaching

Last week we thought about how to handle a New Testament passage that quotes from, or alludes to, an Old Testament passage. Here are some examples of where mishandling the Old Testament quote or allusion can cause trouble:

1. The Son of Man quotes. From our perspective it can seem like the references to Jesus as the Son of God are stronger claims than references to Jesus as the Son of Man. Not necessarily. The king of Israel is referred to as “son of God,” but typically the “Son of Man” language points to a very lofty title. So while there may be occasions where “Son of Man” is referencing humility or lowliness of Jesus, often it points to Daniel 7 and the one standing next to the Ancient of Days who is given authority over everything. Recognising the weight of this title helps, for example, when Jesus uses the title of himself before the Sanhedrin in his trial. Why does the High Priest react so strongly and assume their work is done? Because he felt the force of Daniel 7.

2. Hardened hearts quotes. There are various passages that quote from the end of Isaiah 6. It can feel very harsh, even arbitrary. After all, God was determining that the people would not respond to Isaiah’s ministry? Before we dump in any theological assumptions and defend such a view, let’s be sure to read the passage in context. Unusually the call of Isaiah has a five chapter prelude that lays out the state of the nation. They were rebellious and resistant to God. By the time we get to chapter 6 it is clear that God does not want a “cheap responsiveness” from a people determined to be against Him. Hence the hardening. Earlier Pharoah’s heart was also hardened . . . after the three plagues where he hardened his heart against God. God wants genuinely responsive hearts, and where that is not present, He may bake the rebellious determination to avoid false turns to God (as we see repeatedly in Judges). Be sure to get the context before imposing a harsh theological overlay on these passages.

3. Where we sit in judgment on “inspired mishandling” of Scripture. This is a dangerous short cut. It may appear that the New Testament writer is not handling the Old Testament passage appropriately in its context. Don’t jump to that conclusion though. It is more likely that you haven’t understood the richness of that OT context quite as fully as you could yet. Saying that the writers are inspired and so can make exegetical errors is a head in the sand option that causes more problems than it solves. Keep working, it may become clearer in time. (A classic example might be “out of Egypt I have called my Son…” in Hosea 11:1 which is obviously a backwards look to Israel, not an anticipation of Jesus’ travel as an infant…so Matthew didn’t handle Hosea well? Or maybe Matthew traced the thematic richness of Hosea and brought that over to Matthew? It is worth doing the work to find out!)

I will list some more tomorrow. Any OT mishandles that come to mind for you?